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Monday, July 25, 2011

Baseball, Vacation and Sir Paul

I haven't posted anything since May? Wow! However are you guys supposed to keep up with us Joneses? Boy, this sounds familiar. Every three months when I post I say the same thing. A lot has happened since I last posted. School let out, baseball ended, Summer began, we went to South Carolina, got a new dog, we went to NYC and school is about to start again. I just ordered Peyton some new school clothes just a few minutes ago. I can't believe it's almost time for 5th grade to begin.

So again, this year we vacationed with my parents on beautiful Fripp Island, SC. It's God's country. We barely had time to put our luggage inside and grab a drink & snack before our friends came by for a visit. This year we had a deer we called "Arnold" visit us every day. He had a very large growth on his stomach so we thought Arnold was most appropriate. "It's not a tumor". I was sitting there with my Diet Coke and snack and felt a head on my shoulder. I turned around and Arnold was resting his head on me begging for my snack. So of course, I shared.

We took a walk on the gorgeous beach and enjoyed the sunset. Sunsets are always more special on the beach. Or maybe I don't have time at home to stop and enjoy them. Perhaps both.After vacation, we came back home and Peyton finished up baseball season. He played on The Dodgers and they came in second place in their division. The last night was rough. We were at the ball field all night. The boys (and parents) were exhausted. A few weeks ago, a girl I work with was talking about a dog she found at her apartment complex. Someone had tied this beautiful girl up to a park bench in the apartments and left her for 24 hours with no food or water. And trust me, it is very hot here in Memphis in the summertime. After going to a few different temporary homes, I volunteered to take her temporarily. Since we lost Bailey, we wanted to go to the pound and get another dog so Barney would have someone to play with. We needed a young dog with a lot of energy and one that could hold their own with him. We brought this gorgeous girl home and they immediately hit it off. We let them loose in the back yard and she ran so fast that Barney couldn't begin to catch up with her. They have so much fun playing together. She's as sweet as she can be and it makes me sad to think that someone would abandon her. But their loss is our gain. We named her Zeva. Peyton loves the show NCIS and one of the characters on that show (the hottest girl on the show of course) is named Zeva.And the most exciting thing that happened to us this summer......we went to New York City to see Sir Paul McCartney. This might not excite a lot of people my age (certainly not my husband) but this was one of the best nights of my entire life. He is 69 years old and still rocks the house. Oh yeah, and the house he rocked was none other than the New Yankee Stadium. That's right! The only thing that would have made the night more complete is if Derek Jeter had been there too. Sir Paul put on a nearly three hour show. Check out this amazing set list. I love The Beatles older music and he definitely didn't disappoint.We flew into LaGuardia. We have been to NYC before years ago, but we managed to avoid having to ride in a cab. This time though, we had to. When you step outside the airport, there are taxis lined up as far as the eye can see. Beware though: ONLY TAKE THE YELLOW CABS. There are some guys there who want you to ride with them and God only knows where they're going to take you.These pictures were taken from our hotel room. We stayed at The Hilton Garden Inn on West 35th Street. It was one block from The Empire State Building and Herald Square, home of Macy's and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.Once we put our luggage down and freshened up, we headed to The Top of The Rock. Rockefeller Center. We bought tickets to go up to the top of this amazing building. You can see the entire island from up there, and of course the Statue of Liberty too. It's gorgeous and will really take your breath away. First, we stopped at Bryant Park and grabbed a sandwich. We ate at Wichcraft Soups & Sandwiches. I had the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich ever. It was made with Gruyere cheese and caramelized onions on grilled rye bread. Oh so good!! And we saw these adorable dogs while we were there. Okay so back to The Top of The Rock. Here are some pictures from up there. We left Rockefeller Center and headed over to St Patrick's Cathedral. It doesnt matter if you are Catholic or not. This place is a must see. The doors on the church weigh 20,000 pounds. It is a gorgeous cathedral. We had to head back to the hotel after this but we passed a lot of great things along the way like the NY Public Library. This is where the wedding of the century was supposed to take place. Not Catherine and Prince William....Carrie Bradshaw and John James Preston (aka Big) from Sex and The City.

I was told by Yankee Stadium that I couldn't bring a camera to the concert. Naturally, when we got there, everyone had a camera. I had an iPhone though which was okay too. I took some great video on it. Our seats were unbelievably great. The food there is delicious. I had garlic french fries. Yep, that was my whole meal.Saturday we got up, had a bite to eat and then headed down to the State Island Ferry. The subways were under construction so we had to take one subway, exit and take a shuttle to get to the ferry. No biggie. It was worth it. The ferry is free and the absolute best way to see The Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Skyline.

After the ferry ride, we walked up Wall Street, saw the bull, had an altercation with a homeless man, took a cab to Little Italy and ate at Lombardi's Pizzeria. This establishment has been dubbed the first pizzeria in America, opened in 1905. There was a 40 minute wait but worth every minute of it. FYI: They only take cash. No credit cards.

After our delicious pizza, we headed to Chinatown. We saw the fish markets, some dragon fruit for sale on the street that was beautiful and a lot of women asking us if we wanted to buy purses or watches. I'm not sure where they would have taken us if we had gone with them. Sunday morning, we had to face the bitter truth that our very short trip to NYC was about to come to an end. We woke up and headed to Central Park. We took the subway up and walked up Central Park West. We entered the park at West 72nd Street, the location of The Dakota Apartments. This is where John Lennon lived and was shot & killed in December of 1980. The apartment building is just gorgeous. Central Park is so wonderful. Over 800 acres of gorgeous land. The statues, castles, bridges, waterfalls, arches and trees will take your breath away. It's wonderful to be in a busy city like New York and be able to take time out to step inside this wonderland.After a stroll through Central Park, we walked over to The Plaza Hotel. It's simply stunning inside and out. I had to take a picture of the chandelier inside the lobby. Maybe one day we can stay there.

Our last visit of the weekend was FAO Schwarz. We had to stop in and see The Big Piano from the movie Big. Back to reality and the heat of Memphis. Being away from home always makes you appreciate your city.